''Nepenthes pervillei'' (; after Auguste Pervillé, French plant collector) is the only

pitcher plant Pitcher plants are several different carnivorous plants which have modified leaves known as pitfall traps—a prey-trapping mechanism featuring a deep cavity filled with digestive liquid. The traps of what are considered to be "true" pitcher p ...

found in the

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, V ...

, where it is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the islands of Mahé and

Silhouette A silhouette ( , ) is the image of a person, animal, object or scene represented as a solid shape of a single colour, usually black, with its edges matching the outline of the subject. The interior of a silhouette is featureless, and the silhou ...

. It grows in rocky areas near

granitic A granitoid is a generic term for a diverse category of coarse-grained igneous rocks that consist predominantly of quartz, plagioclase, and alkali feldspar. Granitoids range from plagioclase-rich tonalites to alkali-rich syenites and from quart ...

mountain summits, its roots reaching deep into rock fissures. The species has an altitudinal range of 350–750 m

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

.McPherson, S.R. 2009. ''

Pitcher Plants of the Old World ''Pitcher Plants of the Old World'' is a two-volume monograph by Stewart McPherson on the pitcher plants of the genera ''Nepenthes'' and ''Cephalotus''. It was published in May 2009 by Redfern Natural History Productions and covers all species kno ...

''. 2 volumes. Redfern Natural History Productions, Poole. Like all members of the genus, ''N. pervillei'' is

dioecious Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproductio ...

, having separate male and female plants. The

mite Mites are small arachnids (eight-legged arthropods). Mites span two large orders of arachnids, the Acariformes and the Parasitiformes, which were historically grouped together in the subclass Acari, but genetic analysis does not show clear evid ...

'' Creutzeria seychellensis'' has been found in the pitchers of ''N. pervillei''.

Taxonomy

The species was originally described as ''Nepenthes pervillei'' in 1852, but was later placed in the

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

''Anurosperma'' as ''Anurosperma pervillei'', based on the

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines * Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts * Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies ...

of its

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

s, which differ from the closely allied '' N. madagascariensis'' (and the other members of ''

Nepenthes ''Nepenthes'' () is a genus of carnivorous plants, also known as tropical pitcher plants, or monkey cups, in the monotypic family Nepenthaceae. The genus includes about 170 species, and numerous natural and many cultivated hybrids. They are mos ...

'') in that they lack the 'tails' characteristic of the rest of the genus. However, the more recent taxonomic database of

Jan Schlauer Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to: Acronyms * Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN * Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code * Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group * Japanese Article Numb ...

subsumes ''Anurosperma'' back into ''Nepenthes''. Long considered one of the more " primitive" species of ''Nepenthes'', recent

molecular phylogenies Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

have consistently placed ''N. pervillei'' in a basal position within the genus.Meimberg, H., S. Thalhammer, A. Brachmann & G. Heubl 2006. Comparative analysis of a translocated copy of the ''trnK'' intron in carnivorous family Nepenthaceae. ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' 39(2): 478–490.

Gallery

Nepenthes pervillei7.jpg, Offshoots bearing mature pitchers Nepenthes pervillei10.jpg, Inflorescence

References

* Bauer, U., C.J. Clemente, T. Renner & W. Federle 2012. Form follows function: morphological diversification and alternative trapping strategies in carnivorous ''Nepenthes'' pitcher plants. ''Journal of Evolutionary Biology'' 25(1): 90–102. * Blondeau, G. 2001. ''Nepenthes Pervillei''. In: ''Les Plantes Carnivores''. De Vecchi, Paris. pp. 71–72. * Fashing, N.J. 2010. In: M.W. Sabelis & J. Bruin (eds.)
Trends in Acarology: Proceedings of the 12th International Congress
'. Springer Science, Dordrecht. pp. 81–84. * Hartmeyer, S. 1993. ''

Carnivorous Plant Newsletter The ''Carnivorous Plant Newsletter'' is the official publication of the International Carnivorous Plant Society (ICPS), the largest such organization in the world. It is headquartered in Walnut Creek, California. History and editorship The newsle ...

'' 22(3): 65–70. * Jean, S.M. 2015
Less than 1,000 meat-eating plants found on Seychelles, report says
Seychelles News Agency, 27 December 2015. * Kitching, R.L. 2000
''Food Webs and Container Habitats: The natural history and ecology of phytotelmata''
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. * Kitching, R.L. & C.J. Schofield 1986
Every pitcher tells a story
''New Scientist'' 109(1492): 48–50. * Malcomber, S.T. 1989. A survey of the ''Nepenthes pervillei'' communities in the Seychelles September 1989. 'Sine_nomine,_sine_loco.html" ;"title="Sine_nomine.html" ;"title="'Sine nomine">'Sine nomine, sine loco">Sine_nomine.html" ;"title="'Sine nomine">'Sine nomine, sine loco''.] * Mansur, M. 2001. In: ''Prosiding Seminar Hari Cinta Puspa dan Satwa Nasional''. Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia, Bogor. pp. 244–253. * Redwood, G.N. & J.C. Bowling 1990
Micropropagation of ''Nepenthes'' species
''Botanic Gardens Micropropagation News'' 1(2): 19–20. * Schmid-Hollinger, R. N.d
''Nepenthes pervillei'': Blütenbau
bio-schmidhol.ch. * Schmid-Hollinger, R. N.d
Nepenthaceae: Axile oder parietale Placentation?
bio-schmidhol.ch. * Schmid-Hollinger, R. N.d
Kannendeckel (lid)
bio-schmidhol.ch.

Triffid Park. {{Taxonbar, from=Q142936 Carnivorous plants of Africa Coprophagous plants pervillei Endemic flora of Seychelles Plants described in 1852

Taxonomy

Gallery

References

Further reading